Coffee Grounds and Tea Leaves
by Stratagem
Summary: Modern AU. Shiro works at a coffee shop, and his life is interrupted by a precocious little girl who tells him that she's his daughter. Allura has her hands full with raising her rambunctious daughter and running a tea shop. Everything is made a little more complicated when Shiro re-enters her life, but maybe "complicated" isn't so bad, in the long run.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: Okay, so I know I have like a bazillion fics to work on and ideas to write, but this one won't leave me alone. I've been trying to shove it away for a few days now with no success. So have a modern/coffee shop vs. tea shop/single-parent/surprise kid of a past fling AU? Plus broganes? And Lance and Allura being half-siblings? I'm borrowing my Shallura baby OC Emi from my Lion Cub series.

* * *

 **Coffee Grounds and Tea Leaves**

Chapter 1

"Can you hurry it up? I'm going to be late, not that you care or anything…"

Shiro glanced over at the businessman who was leaning against the counter, both hands gripping the wooden edge like he was going to break if off. He was tempted to work slower and take his sweet time fixing the guy's complicated monstrosity of an order, but that would mean putting up with an escalating amount of griping. Instead, he continued working at a steady pace.

Crowded with students from the nearby college and the regular lunch loungers, the Garrison was packed. People were sprawled out across the small hole-in-the-wall café, taking up the mismatched tables and couches. The bags, backpacks, and gear scattered everywhere created a maze that would probably drop the coffee shop into a lawsuit one day. The constant chatter sometimes ebbed enough that the pop music Pandora station could be heard over the sound system.

Matt was covering the cash register during the lunch time rush, and he didn't have much patience for the pushy businessman. "Sorry for the wait, but you might've noticed we're swamped."

"Not that you care or anything," added a disembodied voice, the speaker hidden behind a computer screen and a pile of books.

"What was that?" the businessman said, turning toward the table, his face tightening and turning red. Shiro and Matt shared a look, and Shiro put a rush on the stupid order. The faster the man got his coffee, the faster he could leave the shop and not be tempted to get in a fight with Pidge the Infamous Instigator.

"Just an observation of your complete lack of patience," Pidge said, sounding extremely pleased with how she was needling him, "Stand there and wait for your coffee like everyone else, you entitled little kumquat."

"What did you call me?!"

"It's like a small orange," Shiro said. He slapped a lid on the drink and set in on the table, a tense smile on his face. "Here's your coffee."

"Are you just going to let her talk to me like that?"

Shiro's smile became a little more forced. "Yes."

"She doesn't work here," Matt said, though he did throw a sidelong shut-your-face look at his sister. She didn't exactly work in the café part of the Garrison, but she did log volunteer hours at the nonprofit upstairs. "And we do like to promote free speech."

"I'm a paying customer, I can't believe I'm being treated like this." The businessman picked up his coffee and sipped at it, making a face. "It's sour."

"You ordered a combined drink that has a lot of different ingredients, and some of them don't work well together," Shiro explained even as he started on another order. He wasn't going to remake that coffee, so he sure as hell hoped that the man decided he liked it. It was a good thing Keith wasn't there right then. He didn't exactly do well in situations like this.

The last time Keith had gotten into an argument with a customer, he had ended up dumping an entire iced coffee into one of the planters by the counter, declaring that the fern deserved the caffeine more than the customer. That had gone over _really_ well…

The businessman gave all of them a final glare and left, maliciously dunking his coffee into the trash as he stomped out the door. Shiro didn't care that he had trashed the drink, but he did care that it was full when it went into the bag. That meant it was going to leak later, worse than usual.

Leaning back, he glanced at the chart that helped them keep up with responsibilities around the shop, and hah, Matt was supposed to take out the trash.

"Put a quarter in the Ass-Hat Bucket," Pidge said, pointing over at the glass jar in the corner. Every time a jerk came in and made a scene, they put a quarter in the bucket. No one was sure what they were saving up for, but in a few more months, they could maybe afford a cruise to the Bahamas.

"Lay off the paying customers, Katie," Matt said. He snagged a quarter from the tip jar and chucked it into the jar before taking the next order.

"Hey, I pay!"

"Compliments don't count," Shiro said, and she stuck her tongue out at him since she was very mature.

Matt and Shiro fell into a steady rhythm as they took orders and mixed drinks, fighting through the lunch rush. Everyone in the city apparently needed a caffeine fix so they could make it through the second half of the day.

Shiro still wasn't as fast as Matt, but he was learning quickly. The whole café slash nonprofit thing had been Matt's idea and part of his graduate work, and Shiro had been glad to join his friend in the venture once he launched the business. It was a lot more relaxing than his last job…

The café mostly emptied out after lunch, leaving only a few students from the college and a couple tourists in the dining area. Pidge was still there, taking up a whole table with whatever project she was working on. Since it had slowed down, Matt had joined his sister and they were techno-babbling at each other. Shiro didn't bother trying to keep up and turned his attention to the disaster area that was the bar. Time to start cleaning.

He had gotten a couple dishes done when he heard something like a person knocking on wood. Wiping his hands on a dish cloth, he looked around. He had heard the door open, but no one new was in the shop. That's when he noticed a pair of bright blue, almond-shaped eyes peeking over the edge of the counter. Why did those eyes look so familiar?

"Hey there," he said, and the eyes grew wider, staring at him. For a moment, they lingered on his cybernetic right arm, crinkling a little in what he hoped was excitement or wonder. Sometimes kids thought the arm was cool. Others were scared by it. The eyes disappeared as he stepped forward, and he had to lean over the counter to see the kid.

The little girl took another step back, her chin tilting up so she could meet his eyes. She looked like she was somewhere around seven or eight, with a heart-shaped face, brown skin, and black hair that had a hot pink streak in it. She was wearing black glittery leggings, a sparkly pink skirt, a pink short-sleeve t-shirt and a black hoodie vest over that. She also was missing something really important.

"Where's your adult?" Pidge asked, peeking around the edge of her computer. "Or your babysitter?"

"At work," the little girl said, still staring at Shiro.

"Are you here all alone?" he asked, frowning. Who would let a little girl just wander the city by herself? And shouldn't she be at school? He looked past her at the door, wondering if someone was actually with her and just staying outside for the moment.

"Are you Takashi Shirogane?" she asked, as if he hadn't asked her a question first.

He lifted an eyebrow. "Yes…"

"Are you sure?"

Shiro blinked, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth even though he was still concerned. "Yep, I'm sure."

She bit her lip and put her hands on her hips, shoulders squared, back straight. While she seemed confident, it also looked like she was nervous. Shiro was about to ask about her guardians again when she launched a question at him. "Doyoulikepeanutbutterandbananasandwiches?"

"What?"

She took a deep breath, stepped forward, and put her hands on the counter. Going up on her tippytoes, she looked him in the eye and squinted. "Do. You like. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches?"

"Who are you and what are you doing here and why don't you have an adult?" Pidge demanded.

"I have to say, I agree with Katie," Matt put in.

Shiro crossed his arms over his chest. "If I answer your question, will you tell me why you're here without an adult and how to contact someone for you?"

"Mhmm."

"Fine," Shiro said, "I like them a lot, actually."

The little girl's eyes sparkled, and she bounced on the balls of her feet. Her nervousness didn't disappear, but it did fade. "I knew it, I knew it!" She spun around once. "No one else likes them, so I knew you had to. 'cause I like them but I'm the only one, so you have to like them, too."

What in the world was going on… Shiro looked over at Matt and Pidge as the girl twirled around again. Both of them looked like they were just as confused as he was. Walking around the counter, Shiro stopped near Pidge's table.

"Again, who are you, kid?" Pidge said, pointing at the little girl, "And why are you obsessed with sandwiches?"

The girl froze and chewed on her lower lip for a second, those familiar eyes flicking up to meet Shiro's gaze. Wait. Hold on. He knew someone who had eyes that exact same color, but it had been so long since he had seen her...almost eight years.

"I'm Emi Altea, and I'm seven, and I'm your daughter," she told him, enunciating each word carefully, like she had rehearsed saying it. She tilted back onto her heels. "Can I borrow your phone so I can call my mom? She's going to kill me so dead."

While Matt and Pidge proceeded freak out at about the same level of shouting, Shiro sank down into a chair on the opposite side of their table. Now it was his turn to stare, his brain having trouble processing what she had just said.

Altea… Blue eyes like the cloudless summer sky…

" _Allura._ "


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: So glad to see people are enjoying this! ^_^ Oh, and if anyone's wondering, Shiro, Allura and Matt are around 28/29, Lance, Keith, Hunk, and Shay are mid-twenties, and Pidge is early twenties! And yep, for now at least, Emi is my go-to Shallura kid.

* * *

Chapter 2

"Do you think we could put up a disco ball? Since we're going for the 70s theme?"

"Ooo, yes, Chloe, genius! She'll love it!"

Allura glanced at the ceiling of her tea shop, wondering how she could rig up a disco ball to appease the bachelorette party planners. They were a nice enough bunch, if overly zealous about the party and its ever-increasing amount of decorations.

Honestly, Allura didn't understand the point of renting out a place like Quintessence, which already had a nice upcycled theme, and then splattering a ton of decorations over it. However, it wasn't her party, so she wasn't putting her two cents in unless they asked.

"We could hook up a disco ball to the chandelier," Lance put in, "We can totally do that for you ladies." He was behind the cash register, pretending to be busy while he was really checking out the bridesmaids.

"That would be so pretty!"

"But the light might look odd coming off of it."

Allura shot Lance a glare for even suggesting that something be tied to the chandelier. That thing was an actual antique that she had found after hours of roaming a flea market with a grumpy toddler in a kid backpack, and it was not going to be ruined by a disco ball. He simply shrugged and grinned back at her, as if he couldn't help but voice such "good" ideas.

"I'm not sure if it would work on the chandelier, but maybe you could hang it in the window seat," she said, pointing over at the shop window. People loved to sit there and read, and there was a hook holding a fern in a hanging basket. It would be easy to take down the fern and put up a disco ball, even if it wouldn't be the focus of attention.

"Or we could cut it in half and have a disco ball punch bowl!" the red-haired one suggested.

The maid-of-honor nodded rapidly. "But we'll have to call it a disco hemisphere."

"Or there's that," Allura said, smiling. She walked over to the counter to pick up two teas that Shay had set out for one of the tables. There weren't many customers in the shop since it was the afternoon lag, but there were a few. "Where are these going, Shay?"

"That table by the window," Shay said, nodding her head in the right direction. She was already onto her next project, which was completing a tea blend for one of the online orders. Her fingers dipped and dived through the ingredient containers, adding different things to the rooibos base.

"Thanks." Leaving the party planners to gush about their ideas, Allura headed over to the pair of elderly ladies at the table. Gently, she set their teas down then picked up a cup and saucer set that had been left behind on a nearby table. If Lance just would work more and flirt less…

As she headed to the kitchen, her cellphone started ringing. Balancing the china in one hand, she fished her cell out of her apron pocket. The number was Emi's school, which alarmed her. Emi's class was on a field trip to the city's history museum, so there was no reason the school would be calling unless something bad had happened.

"What's wrong?" Lance said, automatically noticing the change in her expression.

"Hello?" she said into the cell, shaking her head at her brother.

On the other end of the line, there was a calm, clear voice. "Is this Mrs. Altea?"

Not the time to correct that to just 'miss.' "Yes, is something wrong with Emi?" she asked, jumping straight to the point and startling both Lance and Shay. They immediately clumped together and moved over toward Allura, staring at her and ignoring the customers' curious looks.

"This is Mrs. Cooper, the principal at Montgomery Elementary School, and I don't want you to panic, but there's been an incident at the museum." Allura felt a hot rush of fear and anger and a fierce need to start yelling, but the principal rushed on. "Emi had gone missing from her group at the museum."

The tea cup slipped from the saucer as her hand tilted. It shattered against the floor, sending porcelain shards and hot tea in every direction. One of the elderly ladies let out a shriek at the crash, and the bridesmaids backed up while Lance leaned over and plucked the saucer out of her hand. "Allura, what happened?"

For a moment, her breath caught in her chest. Her baby was missing. "She's _what_?" Allura demanded, completely focused on the principal's voice on the other end of the line.

"I can't apologize enough, but I assure you, the police have already been called and the museum attendants are looking for her."

"How did you lose my daughter?" Allura snarled, "Where is she?" Her hand tightened around the phone. She wanted to do so many things at once. Cry, scream, punch someone, start a search party. Her throat tightened, and she put her hand on the back of a nearby chair.

Lance's mouth fell open. He launched himself around the edge of the counter and touched Allura's arm, panic in his eyes. "What's going on, what's wrong? Tell me!" he hissed, but she waved him off and turned around.

"Ma'am, we're doing everything we can, most likely she's hiding in the museum—"

"Or someone could have kidnapped her," Allura snapped. She slapped her hand against the table and stormed toward the counter. Pocketbook, credit card, phone, she needed a taxi, how far away was the museum, not her baby…

"If you could please wait until the police come to your workplace, I'm sure—"

Allura gave a harsh laugh. "I'm going straight to the museum, so you can tell them to meet me there."

"Mrs. Altea, I'm sorry—"

Allura swiped the phone off. For a moment, she pressed her phone to her forehead, gathering herself. Okay. Time to push the fear to the side and pull out determination instead. She had to get out of the shop and to the museum, and then she was going to find her daughter and scold her ears off. "Shay, can you watch the shop? Lance and I have to go find Emi."

"Sure, yes, don't worry about it," Shay said, worry in her dark brown eyes, "Do you want me to close up and search too?"

"No, just call Hunk or Coran if you need help," Allura said, trying to stay levelheaded.

"How did they lose her?!" Lance said. He was already at the door, swinging it open, his blue eyes wide. "She's seven! She wears hot pink! And sparkles! Were they not watching her at all?"

Allura was about to answer when her phone rang again. Feeling like she could burn a hole in it with her eyes at that point, she glanced down. The caller was 'unknown,' but maybe it was the museum. Hopefully they had found Emi and this was the call to let her know everything was okay. Lord, let that be it.

"Hello?" she said, still walking out the door just in case it wasn't the museum.

"Hi, Mom!"

Allura gasped, relief washing over her. "Emi! Are you all right? Where are you? Why aren't you at the museum?"

"I'm okay, I'm at the Garrison," said the perky voice, "But I'm okay, really, so don't worry."

"What's the Garrison?"

"A coffee shop. Sort of."

What. "The school just called to tell me you were missing," Allura said, suddenly finding it easy to tap into the anger instead of fear, "Did you sneak away from your class?"

There was a long pause and then a tentative little, "Eh, yesss?"

"You are in _so_ much trouble, I can't, you, Emi Altea…"

"Can't word well?" Lance said, looking much more relaxed now that Emi was apparently not in immediate danger. He hung on the open door and made a face. "Tell her that I'm going to put a monster under her bed for scaring me like that."

"I had a good reason!" Emi declared, "I went and found my dad. I think he wants to talk to you, he keeps asking for the phone."

It was Allura's turn to go silent. She stepped out of the tea shop and leaned heavily against the brick wall beside the door. Her fingertips tingled as she stared out at the sidewalk, her eyes fixing on a concrete planter of flowers in front of the shop. Emi's. Dad.

Shiro.

He was here? In Arus City? How. What. How did Emi find him? What was she supposed to say to him? She had practiced it so many times in her head, had started so many emails and letters, but now…

"Allura?" Lance said, letting the door shut. He hovered near her, his hands out as if ready to catch her. "You face is freaking me out. Do you need to sit down?"

"I don't think she wants to talk to you, she's not saying anything," Emi told someone, sounding farther away from the receiver. Someone replied in a muffled tone, and then it was _his_ voice, bringing back memories of a weekend long ago. One that had changed her life completely.

"Hello, Allura."

She closed her eyes. He sounded the same. "Hello, Shiro."

Beside her, Lance gaped. " _Shiro_? As in Key West Weekend Shiro? _Emi's Dad Shiro_?"

"I'm sorry if you don't want to talk to me, but I think we need to." Shiro sounded kind and sympathetic but a little freaked out. He was probably _a lot_ freaked out. She was, and she hadn't just found out she was a parent. "And please don't worry about Emi, she told me about how she left her field trip. She's fine, she—"

"I said I was okay!" Emi said in the background.

Allura let her head rest on the brick wall. "Thank you for looking after her. I'm sorry, I…" What did she even want to apologize for? Their daughter showing up on his doorstep? For not telling him earlier, like she had planned? It had just become so complicated, and now it was worse.

"Don't be sorry. I mean. She's…" He let out a breath, and it rasped against the receiver. "I can bring her to you, if you'd like?" he said, "Or you can come here? I don't mind either way, I just think we _really_ need to talk."

They certainly did.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: Yayy, thank you to everyone who reading this! Y'all give me wings!

* * *

Chapter 3

"Do you want some Kahlua in that?"

Shiro tore his gaze away from staring at the dark-haired moppet talking to Pidge and looked at Matt, dazed. There was a mug of pure black coffee in front of him. When did that get there? "What?"

"Never mind, you don't need any." Matt shook his head. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" And how exactly was he supposed to respond to that? He had just found out that he had been a father for seven years now and had no idea about it, and the person who told him was his kid.

His _daughter_.

He had a daughter, a tiny and apparently disobedient one who had ditched her class field trip to hunt him down. Was he supposed to lecture her about that? No, that was Allura's place, wasn't it? Or maybe he should, as a responsible adult? Ahhh... He shoved his left hand back through his tuft of white hair and rubbed at the back on his neck, where tension was building.

"She looks like you," Matt said. He poured a heavy dollop of chocolate syrup into a second mug, beginning to make a hot chocolate.

"You think so?"

"Yeah, her eyes look like yours, except for the color, and you have the same nose. And she's got that pink hair streak, but the roots are white."

Really? Shiro hadn't stared that closely at her hair. He had been too busy trying to wrap his head around the whole situation while Emi told him things about herself. Little things, like her favorite color, her favorite books, what she liked to eat, her friends at school. Purple, The Baby Mouse Series, anything sweet but especially cupcakes, June and Quinn and Tori.

They were waiting for Allura to show up at the Garrison, and Matt and Shiro had decided to close the café for a few hours. Yeah, okay, maybe that was a bad business move, but when the staff was busy dealing with a crisis situation, it was the only thing that made sense. They could've called in back-up, like Nyma, but it was easier to just close. They would have to open back up after school let out since the kids would begin showing up for tech classes, but it was just easier to be closed at the moment.

Allura was going to be there any minute, and Shiro didn't know how to feel. Excited? Apprehensive? Nostalgic? Maybe he would just settle for confused.

Matt put a whipped cream topped mug of hot chocolate on the counter. "Hey, Emi, you like hot chocolate?"

"Yep," she said, jumping off her chair and darting over to the counter. She eyed the mug eagerly and then reached for it.

"Careful, it's hot," Shiro said.

"I know," she said, picking it up and taking a sip. Her mouth pursed into an 'o' and she whistled in a quick breath. "Hothothot."

"I told you," Shiro said, smiling a little.

"But this is good whipped cream," she said, as if that was a viable excuse for trying to burn her tongue off.

Matt held up the Reddi-Wip can and gave it a shake. "Only the best here at the Garrison."

Emi laughed then froze, her gaze on the big windows at the front of the cafe. Two people had gotten out of a taxi and were walking up to the Garrison's door.

"Hide me," Emi yelped. She put her mug back on the counter and dived under Pidge's table as a tall, lanky guy rushed the door, smooshing his face against the glass.

"We're here for our runaway!" he announced, knocking on the door. "Too late, Emi, I already saw you."

"Who's that weirdo?" Pidge asked. She was handing her textbooks down to the seven-year-old, who seemed to be trying to build a very quick barricade around the table.

"My uncle, he's loud."

"No kidding."

Shiro stared at the woman who walked up to stand at the door, her eyes meeting his through the glass. Allura hadn't aged a day, though her hair was a lot longer now. His mind traveled back to her hand in his, the waves crashing in front of them, bare feet in the sand, stars stretched out overhead in an endless glittering tapestry. Three days, two nights.

"Are you going to let them in or...?" Matt asked.

"Nope, Emi's ours now, we're keeping her," Pidge said. She had gone from wanting to boot the kid out the door to adopting her like a stray cat after they had bonded over some silly online cartoon they apparently both loved.

Shaking his head, Shiro brought himself back to the present and headed over to the door. He unlocked it and stood back, letting the tall brown-haired guy rush past him. He knelt by the table and made a swipe for Emi, who scooted out and hid behind Pidge's chair. She peeked over Pidge's shoulder, an innocent smile on her face.

"Hi, Uncle Lance…"

"Are you insane? I can't believe you just ran away from your field trip!" the guy yelled, "You could've been kidnapped! Or gotten really lost. You're seven!"

"But I wasn't kidnapped and I didn't get lost or nothing, and I'm almost seven and a half."

"A half doesn't make any difference!"

"Can you two stop yelling around me?" Pidge said.

"Would you like to come in?" Shiro said to Allura while Emi and the Lance guy fought. It sounded too formal, but he was nervous.

"Yes, thank you." Allura stepped inside the shop, looking up at him with those piercing blue eyes. "It's nice to see you, Shiro."

Okay, so they were both going to be formal. And was it actually nice to see him? "Mhmm…you, too."

"Well, this is nice and awkward," Lance said, loud enough for everyone to hear. He had managed to snag Emi out from behind Pidge and was busy squishing her with a hug. She pushed a palm against his face and wriggled out of his grasp before walking slowly over to her mom, dragging her feet.

"Hi, Mom," she said, glancing up at Allura.

"You, little miss priss, are in so much trouble." Allura reached down and picked her up, cuddling her close, their cheeks pressed together. Shiro stepped back, unsure of what to do or where he should be. "I'm glad you're okay, but you just about gave me a heart attack."

"I'm sorry. But it was really important."

Allura looked over at Shiro before she set Emi down. There was worry, apprehension, and maybe a little hope in her eyes, and again, he wondered why she had never contacted him to tell him about Emi. Maybe he was about to find out.

"Is there somewhere we can talk?" she asked, her shoulders tense.

"There's a workspace upstairs, we could go there," Shiro said, nodding to the staircase.

"Okay." She looked back at Emi, pointing a finger at her. "Stay here with Lance, all right? We can discuss your punishment later."

Playing it smart, Emi nodded and gave Shiro a flash of a smile before heading over to get her hot chocolate from the counter. She took it to Lance and held it up to him. "Want some?"

"My epic wrath won't be placated with sugary…hey, this is pretty good."

"Lead the way," Allura said, offering a small, hesitant smile.

She seemed just as nervous as Shiro was.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: Thank you all for your encouragement, I hope you continue to enjoy this little story! Sorry this chapter took a while, I wanted to take my time with it.

* * *

Chapter 4

"Do you want to sit down?"

Allura shook her head, her fingers lacing together as she stepped toward the window. Out on the street, people were going about their day, living their lives, dealing with their own problems. She had been avoiding this situation for so long, she hadn't expected to have it shoved into her lap by her daughter.

"Okay, I think I'm going to."

She turned to see him drop down onto a scruffy couch. The upstairs of the Garrison was wide and open with lots of tables and counters, plus shelves along most of the walls. Tools, tech, and other materials were in bins on the shelves, but in the corner where Shiro was the shelves were full of books and little knick-knacks. A blue rug decorated the floor and the beat-up coffee table had a few fidget toys in a bowl in the middle.

He must have been anxious because his heel was bouncing against the floor. However, when he noticed her looking, he stopped. She went back to peering out the window, her hand resting against the warm glass.

Stars, this was all kinds of awkward. And painful.

It had been shocking, seeing him when she first came to the door. His time in the military had marked him, but it was really just him that took her breath away for a moment. Not the scars or his prosthetic arm or the white hair. Those were startling, yes, but… It was the memories that stopped her on that sidewalk, that and knowing Emi had actually met her father and he was standing right there.

"I wanted to tell you," she said, turning away from the window. She settled against the windowsill, her fingers wrapping around the edge and tightening. "I don't know how many times I thought about telling you."

His response was quiet. "Why didn't you?"

Where should she start? Allura pushed away from the windowsill, walking toward him. Maybe she would sit down after all. She stopped and perched on the arm of the couch opposite of the end he was sitting on, her hands on her knees.

"I was already three months pregnant when I found out," she said, recalling that rough night back in her tiny apartment, alone in her bathroom. When her period had skipped a couple months, she hadn't thought much of it. Sometimes she was late, sometimes she was early; her birth controlmade her cycle wonky sometimes back then. So it was only after some of her friends had been teasing her about her mood swings that she had even thought to try a pregnancy test.

"I didn't know what to do at first. I didn't even know what I _wanted_ to do for a while." There had been options, and she had thought about each of them, weighing them carefully. She seriously considered giving the baby up for adoption and even looked into a few possible agencies, but after the second ultrasound she had changed her mind. "You and I had agreed after that last call that it was just a weekend thing since you were going to basic and I was going to grad school. I tried to call once after I found out, but when it went to voicemail, I just…hung up."

A shadow passed over Shiro's face and he brought his hand up to his mouth. It looked like he was struggling to find the right words, but eventually he nodded and looked up at her. There were a lot of emotions in those dark eyes of his, and Allura looked away.

"Emi was born a month early, and then I was too busy taking care of her and starting grad school to think about telling you." That wasn't entirely true. She had thought about him often during the first few months of Emi's life and wondered how he would feel about having a child. If he would care. If he thought about her. He had been kind and warm and humbly charming, but they had only spent a weekend together. It wasn't enough time to really know a person, though there had been something special about him.

She had been younger then, and the situation had been so strange and new. She didn't know how to be a parent and adding another person into the equation while she tried to get everything under control seemed like asking for disaster.

"I hardly knew you, Shiro," she said, wishing she could make him understand, "I didn't know how you would react."

"Allura, I—"

She held up her hands. If she didn't keep going, if he interrupted, she didn't know if she would be able to get everything out that she wanted to say. "In hindsight, I know that probably wasn't fair to you, and I'm sorry about that. And this certainly wasn't how I wanted to tell you." Taking a deep breath, she pressed her hands together and stood up, moving toward one of the work tables. Turning around, she leaned back against the table, looking at the ground.

There was a burst of laughter below them, followed by the sound of people running. Most likely it was Lance chasing Emi. Her brother had moved in with her after Emi had been born and helped Allura with taking care of her until she was about two. Even now he still did a lot of babysitting for her. He had been there for Allura during breakdowns and frustration and moments where she just didn't know what to do with the screaming child in her arms.

"I told her your name a few months ago," Allura said, fingertips tapping on the underside of the worktable. "She's been wanting to meet you ever since, and I was planning to contact you and set something up. I guess she found out you were here and took matters into her own hand. She's quite stubborn…" She squeezed the table and looked up at him, that old fear resurfacing. It was the same thought, the same worry, that had been a major part of keeping her from doing more to tell him earlier.

When she held Emi for the first time, saw her tiny perfect hands and adorable feet and sweet face, she couldn't imagine letting anyone hurt her. What if she told Shiro, and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with her, if he didn't acknowledge her? It was easier to spare Emi from that possible pain. The older Emi had gotten, the more that fear had grown, especially after she started asking Allura all sorts of questions about her dad.

"I was scared," Allura said, wondering if she should open up this much to a near-stranger. Then again, this near-stranger did happen to be a past lover and the father of her child. "For Emi. She would have been crushed if you rejected her."

"I won't." Shiro's voice was firm and clear. He stood up and walked over before leaning against the table beside her. Crossing his arms over his chest, he looked at her. "I wouldn't do that, Allura."

"I told her we would figure out a way to tell you soon," she said, reaching up and rubbing the bridge of her nose, "I'm sorry she came here—"

"Don't apologize, I'm glad she did," Shiro said. For a long moment, he was silent, and then he sighed. "I wish you had told me earlier." He leaned his head back, gazing trained on the metal rafters overhead, gathering his thoughts. "I…I think I understand why you didn't tell me at first. I can't imagine how hard it must have been on you. But I also can't help but wish you had just told me."

He didn't sound angry at her, but he did seem upset and sad. That was fair. She had made a decision that she thought was best for her daughter, but maybe it hadn't been a perfect choice. He had a faraway look in his eyes, like he was thinking of a thousand different things at once. Maybe it was of all the important moments in Emi's life he had missed so far. Seven years was a long time.

"I saw that call when I got back."

Allura jerked her chin up. "What?"

"That call, the one where you tried to tell me," he said, "I saw it when I got back from basic." He turned and met her eyes. "I wanted to call you back, but you didn't leave a message so I thought it was an accident. I didn't want to bother you."

 _Oh_. Would she have told him, if he had called her back? There was no way to know.

"Allura…" He pushed away from the table and stood in front of her. "I know this a lot for all of us, but…I don't want you two to disappear." He held his hands out, palms up. "I'd like to spend time with Emi. I've…she's already seven."

"Seven and sassy," Allura said, which was practically a reflex. It was something Lance always said, and it had stuck.

"I noticed," he said, a small half-smile growing on his face, "I don't want you to feel pressured or anything, but I'd like to spend time with you, too. So we can figure out where to go from here."

Allura nodded slowly. "I think that would be all right."

While part of her was apprehensive and cautious, another part knew it was a good idea. Emi wanted to learn who her dad was and Shiro seemed to want to learn more about Emi, too. And that meant she and Shiro needed to build some kind of working platonic relationship for their daughter's sake. She could do that. She could shove the memories of nights in Key West away and they could become friends.

Friends with a kid.

Right.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

* * *

Chapter 5

Shiro's head was spinning by the time he and Allura finished their talk and exchanged cell phone numbers. He really did have a daughter with the only woman he had ever had a weekend fling with, and somehow that kid had found him in a city of over a million people.

When Shiro and Allura went downstairs, they found the others hanging out on the couches. Lance and Matt seemed to be engaged in an intense game of checkers while Emi and Pidge sat close together and watched something on Pidge's tablet. Shiro stopped at the edge of the counter and stared at the little girl perched beside Pidge, trying to adjust to his new reality with her in it.

He was going to have to call his parents later to tell them. They were probably going to be a mix of baffled and excited, especially his mother, who had been badgering him and his twin brother Ryou about settling down and starting families for a couple years now. Since Keith was still in college, he currently was free from that particular line of argument, though he had to endure constant complaints about his too-shaggy hair. But hey, that was his choice.

How was Keith even going to react to this? He was terrible with kids… But since he lived in the city and worked at the Garrison, he would probably be the first from Shiro's family to meet Emi. It was going to take a serious amount of explaining.

Spotting them, Emi raced over and collided against Allura, wrapping her arms around her legs. "Mom! What'd you talk about? Did you talk about me? Do you want some hot chocolate? Matt can make some." She tugged on Allura's shirt. "Mooom."

"We talked about a few different things, but you were definitely the main topic," Allura said, brushing her hand over Emi's hair before picking her up and settling the kid on her hip.

"Did you tell him good stuff about me?" Emi asked quietly, her hand hiding her mouth, but Shiro still overheard. He tried to pretend he didn't and squashed the smile that was trying to steal onto his face.

"I had to so he wouldn't think you were just a runaway hooligan," Allura said in the same loud-whisper.

"What's a hooligan?"

"A little mischief-making mouse like you," Allura said.

Over on the couch, Lance let out a groan and flopped back against the cushions. "Dude, this is the fourth game in a row that you've won. What are you, some kind of checkers guru?"

"No, he's actually a chess nerd," Pidge said.

"I'm both. You can't beat me at checkers either," Matt said. He cleared the board and started setting up another game, his eyes flicking in Shiro's direction. Yeah, and there was another person who was going to want to hear the full story.

Matt and Shiro had been friends since college, so they were close buddies besides being business partners. He knew about Allura since Shiro had told him about her a long time ago and she tended to come up when he was slightly sloshed and feeling nostalgic.

"I'm not so good at checkers yet," Emi said in a matter-of-fact tone, and Shiro turned to find her looking at him, a bit of embarrassment on her little face. "Everyone always beats me."

"That's because you only learned how to play like two months ago," Lance said.

"You just need more practice," Shiro said. It got him a bright smile from Emi before Allura set her back on the ground.

"You know what, Lance, you haven't seen our upstairs space," Matt said, reading the situation. He got up from the couch and stretched, leaving the checker board and pieces out on the coffee table. "The workshop is up there."

"But you can't touch anything," Pidge said, eyeing Lance suspiciously, "You look like the kind of person who breaks stuff when they look at it wrong."

"Hey, the only stuff I break are hearts," Lance said with a teasing grin.

Pidge blinked. "You didn't just say that…"

"Sure did. Last one up the stairs has to lick my shoe!" Lance took off toward the stairs with Pidge racing right behind him and Matt following at a more sedate pace. Matt wouldn't be licking anyone's shoe, so he probably wasn't too concerned about the impromptu race.

Emi started to follow after them, not wanting to be left out of the competition, but Allura reached out and grabbed her hand. "Not you, sweetheart."

"Why not?"

"Because I think we all need to talk," Allura said, leading Emi back over to the couch.

The seven-year-old made a face before she jumped up to sit on the arm of the couch. "But you guys've been talking. You talked a lot already. I want to see upstairs."

"We can go see it soon," Shiro said, sitting down at the other end of the couch, which left the end that Emi was sitting on for Allura. "Okay?"

"But Uncle Lance gets to see it now."

"Come here…" Allura reached over and drew Emi off the couch's arm, eventually settling her down between her and Shiro. "It's an important talk. Things are going to be a little different now, sweetheart."

Emi's eyes automatically narrowed and she drew her feet up onto the cushions so she could sit cross-legged. "What's that mean?"

"Well…" Allura clasped her hands together in her lap and her eyes flicked over to meet Shiro's. Before coming downstairs, they had scratched out the beginnings of a plan for Emi spending time with Shiro.

He turned slightly, hoping to get Emi's full attention. "Before we get into that, I'm curious about something. How'd you find out where I was?"

"I was wondering about that, too," Allura said, a bit of tension on her face, though Shiro didn't think it was because of him.

"Class," Emi said, pointedly not looking at Allura. She probably knew how much trouble she was in and didn't want to make it worse. "Our art teacher Ms. Torres read us something about the Garrison and your name was in it."

Oh, right, the newspaper article. A reporter from Arus Tribune had come by the Garrison a few weeks ago to do a piece on their makerspace and free coding and crafting classes. Most of the article had been about Matt, since the workshop part of the Garrison was his brain child, but the reporter had become enamored with Shiro's arm, which was Matt's greatest project. Shiro had sat there with waning patience for a couple hours while Matt explained the intricacies of Shiro's prosthetic, popping open a few panels for show-and-tell.

"And you walked here from the museum?" Allura asked, frowning.

Emi squirmed and scooted a little closer to Shiro. "Um…"

"You didn't walk?"

"I took a bus…"

"Emi!" Allura pressed her fingers against her forehead, and Shiro could practically see a vein throbbing in her temple. "You know how I feel about you riding the bus alone!"

"But it was faster," Emi said, "It was okay."

"There are about a hundred things that could've gone wrong, and now I have to explain to the school why you left the museum," Allura said, "And on top of that, I don't think I've ever been so worried in my entire life!"

Again, Shiro wasn't sure what to do. If he scolded Emi as well, Allura might feel that he was overstepping himself and Emi would resent him. But what if he needed to back-up Allura? How the hell was he supposed to parent?

"I'm sorry, Mom. I just…wanted to meet him…" Emi said, looking down at the floor as her shoulders hunched forward.

Allura's anger softened and she looked over at Shiro. Okay, now was the time to say something. "I'm glad you did." He reached over and tapped the back of Emi's hand, getting her attention. "But next time, maybe don't run away from class or freak your mom out."

Immediately, Emi sat up straight as if she was jumping to attention. "Next time?" Her bright blue eyes shone as she whipped toward Allura. Her dark hair nearly caught Shiro in the face as she stood up on the cushions. "I can come back?!"

"That's part of what we talked about—"

Emi let out a little excited shriek and flung herself at Allura, wrapping her arms around her neck and kissing her cheek. Allura hugged her back then sat her down in her lap, an arm looped around her.

"We're going to start doing things together," Allura said, tapping a finger against Emi's arm, "And this summer, you're going to come to the afternoon shop classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays here at the Garrison."

"Really?" Emi asked. A huge grin popped onto her face. "Can we go to the zoo? And the beach? I've got a list!"

"A list?" Shiro asked, and suddenly Emi looked shy. She wriggled out of Allura's hold and got up from the couch, spinning around the coffee table.

"There's lots of places we can go," she said, avoiding the question, "Do you want to go see our tea shop?"

"I'm going to come over on Saturday," Shiro said, "So can you show me your shop then?"

Emi nodded vigorously and started chattering about the tea shop and how pretty it was and what kind of tea he might like. Apparently her favorite was green tea and Allura's was some kind of rooibos blend that someone named Shay was good at making. Shiro let her talk, watching as she talked with her hands and made sound effects, energy bubbling with every movement. He caught himself looking over at Allura, lingering on the small smile on her face as she watched Emi's antics.

After a while, Matt, Pidge, and Lance clattered back down the stairs, Pidge and Lance jabbering about a video game while Matt brought up the rear.

Emi's stream of conversation cut off and she raced over to Lance, grabbing his hand. "Can we go upstairs?"

"We actually need to go home," Allura said, standing up from the couch.

Shiro swiftly stood up too, wanting to ask her to stay a little longer or if she and Emi would like to go get something for dinner. However, he didn't want to be too pushy.

"Aww, but upstairs…"

"You can see it next time," Allura said.

"Yeah, Squeaker, you're in trouble, remember?" Lance said. When Emi made a face at him, he swept her up and tossed her over his shoulder. "Ready?" he asked, looking over at Allura and raising one eyebrow.

"No, no, no, I have to say bye!" Emi said, twisting around. She wriggled around and fussed until he put her back on the floor.

Dashing over, she collided with Shiro's legs and hugged his side, making him freeze instantly. It took him a second to thaw out from the shock that his daughter was actually hugging him, and by the time he had started to hug her back, she had already skipped away. She chewed her bottom lip and gave him a hesitant smile. "Can I call you Shiro?"

"That's fine," he said, blinking at her.

"Okay, good. Bye, Shiro!" She waved at Matt and Pidge before walking back over to Lance, slipping her hand into his.

"So we'll see you at three on Saturday?" Allura said.

"Definitely," he said, nodding at her.

She smiled at him before she gathered Lance and Emi and headed for the door to catch a cab. Lance called out a goodbye as Emi waved, and then they were in a cab and gone.

Matt looked over at Shiro and shook his head. "Bro…"

"Yeah. I know." His life had just gone from rather calm to seriously crazy in about three hours. This was going to take some adjusting.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: I wanted some Altea sibling interaction. ^_^

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

Allura curled into the corner of her favorite armchair, her arms wrapped around a squishy old pillow. Emi was finally asleep after her busy day of tracking down Shiro and giving Allura a heart attack in the process. Her daughter had always leaned toward the impulsive side, but this was extreme even for her.

If she was like this at seven, Emi's teenage years were going to be absolutely dreadful.

"Here." A hand dropped in front of her face, holding out a sizable glass of bubbling pink Moscato. Allura set the pillow aside to take the glass from Lance. He had stuck close to her and Emi for the rest of the afternoon and evening, not letting Emi out of his sight as if he was afraid she might take off again. Honestly, Allura had felt the same way. She was never going to forget how painful it felt when the principal told her Emi was missing.

"Thank you," she said, offering Lance a weak smile. She sipped at the wine, enjoying the light, sweet taste and the moment of distraction it provided.

"I didn't think you'd mind me breaking into your stash." Lance took a swig from his own glass, sitting down on the arm of Allura's chair. "So. Today was crazy."

Allura's laugh was humorless. "That's one way of putting it." She ran her finger across the side of her glass, smudging it. "I'm still trying to decide if I'm a terrible person or not."

Lance frowned. "What? You're kidding, right?"

She hunched into the side of the chair and wrapped both of her hands around the wine glass. "I should have tried harder to tell Shiro earlier. His face…He was really upset." He had been trying to hide it with calm understanding, but the hurt in his eyes hadn't gone unnoticed. Even though he seemed to instantly forgive her, she knew her choice had to sting.

"Well, okay, so maybe you should've told him earlier," Lance said, "But you didn't know how he would react. Plus, you were trying to do the right thing for Emi."

"And we see how well that turned out. She certainly took things into her own hands." Allura stood up, suddenly feeling stifled by the comfortable chair and Lance's apologetics. She loved her brother but she wasn't sure if she deserved to be comforted right now. Besides, had it really all been for Emi? Or was she trying to protect herself as well? That time with Shiro had been short but intense, and if things had turned out differently, if he hadn't been joining the Air Force and if she hadn't been starting graduate school… So many 'if's'.

"Allura, you couldn't have known that Emi would go find him on her own," Lance said, pulling her out of her memories, "How the hell could you have guessed that?"

"Because she's impulsive and incredibly impatient," Allura pointed out, "I shouldn't have told her his name until I had already talked with him."

Lance dropped down into the arm chair and took another sip of wine. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knee. "You know what, Lura, you're right, because you definitely should've figured out that your seven-year-old would plot a master escape from her field trip and find her dad even though you didn't even know he was in this city." He gave her a wry grin. "That's so obvious."

All right, when he put it like that, it did seem somewhat ludicrous. "I still can't believe she put all of that together." Pursing her lips, she pointed a forefinger at him. "I blame you for that." Lance also had that cunning little strategist mind, and it had gotten him into so much trouble when he had been Emi's age. However, it wasn't coupled with the impulsiveness. No, that happened to be one of Allura's traits, though she had tamed it over the years. Their father had the same impetuous nature.

"I can't help it if she happens to take after me," Lance said, "And don't sell yourself short, sis, you performed some really impressive breakouts when you were in high school."

"Don't remind me, it just makes me think about what she'll get up to when she's older." Allura downed half of the remaining wine in her glass and sighed.

They were both quiet for a few minutes, and Allura eventually sank down onto the couch. She held out her free hand, and Lance automatically handed over her pillow. Finishing her wine, she set the glass on the end table and curled back up with her pillow, holding it to her stomach.

"So. Are we not going to talk anymore about Mr. Key West?" That had always been the codename for Shiro when Lance or Allura mentioned him and thought Emi might hear. Over the years, that had practically become his name. They would have to get used to actually calling him Shiro. Or Takashi. Would he want her to call him that anymore? She had decided to call him Shiro when they met again, since it seemed more proper, somehow.

"He seems to be doing…well," Allura said, her cheeks heating up, which made her feel immature. She had a child with the man, so blushing at the mention of him seemed silly. Plus, she shouldn't feel that way about him. It would make things confusing for Emi.

However, it wasn't a crime to appreciate the fact that the father of her child still seemed to be a kind-hearted, thoughtful guy. And highly attractive. Though that last point didn't matter.

Once they got back to the tea shop and everyone had finished scolding and loving on Emi, Lance had taken it upon himself to look up Shiro online and pass on some of the info to Allura. She had spent years resisting the urge to look him up on the Internet, but Lance was not above a little cyberstalking.

Apparently Shiro had been injured during his time in the military, but Matt and a team from the local university had made the cybernetic prosthetic for him as a grad school project. Allura hadn't read much more since it seemed odd to get the information online when she could just ask. Lance and Allura hadn't had time to really talk about him since Emi had monopolized them, excited about Shiro visiting on Saturday.

"I think it's cool that he didn't totally freak out," Lance said, leaning on the chair arm closest to her, "I mean, he was a little freaked out, but he handled it pretty well."

"He _was_ very composed about it, considering," Allura said. She was glad for that, too. It had to be terribly disconcerting to have a kid wander into your workplace and proclaim to be your daughter. Even if it was a little girl as sweet and mischievous as Emi. And he really hadn't seemed mad at Allura for not telling him about Emi for seven years. Just…sad.

"And he wants to get to know her. That's good, right?" Lance sat up and looked at her until she finally met his sympathetic dark blue eyes. "So you don't have to be afraid of that anymore."

She had always worried about Shiro rejecting Emi, but he actually wanted to spend time with her. He seemed to honestly care about knowing her. Which, of course, made her feel even worse for not telling him. But she really had thought she was doing the right thing at the time.

"And he wants to spend time with you, too."

Something about the way Lance said it, the inflection in his tone, made her narrow her eyes at him. "In an invested father, co-parenting way." Which she was fine with, right? "I think we would be good at that. I just need to explain my parenting methods, and we can go from there."

Lance laughed. "Yeah, I don't think that's exactly how co-parenting works."

"My style has been working just fine for seven years," Allura said, picking up her glass again to finish it off.

"Your style _is_ fine," Lance said, shaking his head, "But if you're co-parenting, that means the other person might disagree sometimes, and then you have to compromise."

"I know that. I'll listen if he has ideas." It was hard to imagine anyone else having a true say in how she raised Emi. Lance had some input, sure, but she didn't have to take his ideas to heart. What if Shiro thought there were serious problems with how she was raising their daughter? A new surge of anxiety crept into her stomach, taking up room.

Lance's smile softened. "Emi's really going to like this. Now she can actually work on that list."

Allura bit her lip. Oh, the list. Emi had mentioned it at the Garrison and then gotten embarrassed, probably because it was something she only talked about with Lance, Allura, and the tea shop crew. It was a list of everything she wanted to do when she met her dad, a bunch of places and activities that she wanted to do with her dad and her mom together. Allura carefully tried to discourage the list or convince her that she could do it with a future stepdad whenever (or if ever) Allura got married, but Emi was always convinced that they would do it with her biological father.

"Oh, Lance." Allura sighed and hugged her pillow. "I have to make sure that she realizes that the relationship Shiro and I will have will be purely platonic."

"Why?"

"Because otherwise she'll be hurt when we don't fall in love and get married," Allura said, frustrated, "This isn't some warped version of the Parent Trap."

Lance waved a dismissive hand at her. "Duh, you don't even have twins and you were never married."

Allura's expression was withering.

"All right, fine, but do you have to count out the idea of having a relationship entirely?" Lance said.

"No, oh no, we're really not going there," Allura said, holding up a hand. "I can't even think about that right now, and honestly, it would be awful for Emi if she thought we were going to get together and then we didn't."

"Allura," Lance said gently, "She's probably already hoping you will."

Allura groaned and lifted the pillow so she could bury her face in its soft comfort. The couch shifted as Lance sat down beside her and pulled the pillow out of her hands. She leaned against him as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm not saying what kind of relationship you should have with him or that should rush into anything," he said, "I don't care if you're just platonic or whatever. I just...I know it's all too much right now, but I guess I'm saying you shouldn't close yourself off entirely forever, okay? I know you don't want to make things more difficult and you don't want Emi to get hurt, but…" He shrugged. "I don't know what I'm really trying to say. I just want my big sis to be happy, and if someday Shiro ends up making you happy, I don't want you to miss out on that."

Allura shook her head. It sounded nice, but she wasn't sure she wanted to be vulnerable like that. Everything was already overwhelming. Throwing a relationship with Shiro in on top of everything would turn it into a storm of confusion. "I really can't think about that right now. Thanks, though."

Lance smiled and rubbed her arm. "Besides, if he hurt you guys, I would have to beat his ass or something."

Allura tried not to but laughter escaped her, sneaking out around the hands that she held over her mouth. The image of wiry, lean Lance taking on Shiro was too much.

"Hey, stop laughing! I'm tough. Now, move over and hand me the Fire remote. We're going to watch bad Netflix movies and rip them into shreds until morale improves."


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!

A/N: I know this is a Shiro POV chapter, but I just couldn't resist giving a peek at Allura's POV for a moment. Also, Keith is adopted.

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

"Hold on, back up. You're saying that you, Mr. Responsibility Incarnate, the Golden Child, Pedestal Boy, _you_ have a kid that you didn't know about?"

Shiro glanced at his twin's grinning face on the screen of his iPhone and somehow didn't give into the urge to fling the cell into the couch cushions. Part of what helped him resist was that Keith was sitting on said couch, wide-eyed in disbelief.

"Yes, that's what I'm saying." Shiro rubbed his forehead, trying to ignore the headache that was attempting to build behind his eyes. He knew he should have called his parents first, but he had hoped that his brothers would give him some ideas of how to break the news. Now he was regretting his decision. He had just suffered through a few hours of the Holts losing their minds over Emi and Allura, and now he was felt like he was stuck in the Twilight Zone, except this time it was his own siblings.

"How?" Keith asked while Ryou cackled.

"Well," Ryou said, breaking out of his laughing streak, "When a guy—"

"Ryou, I'm this close to hanging up on you. And by this close, I mean there's maybe a half centimeter between my finger and thumb."

Ryou smirked and held up his hands. "Fine, but just let me say, I'm proud of you, Takashi. Finally jumping off the straight and narrow path and joining us on the dark side—"

Shiro disconnected the call and dropped the phone on the table, flicking the volume to silent. He loved his twin, but he could seriously be a pain in the ass sometimes. Leaning back in his armchair, he looked up at the ceiling of his apartment.

"How old is she again?"

"Seven," Shiro sighed, "She's a very energetic and clever seven-year-old."

"When do I get to meet her?" Forcing himself to sit up, Shiro glanced at Keith, a little surprised. Keith didn't particularly like kids, and he had called them 'tiny gremlin human knockoffs' more than once. Keith stared back at him. "I do get to meet her, don't I?"

"Yes, definitely. Sorry, my brain is taking a while to catch up to everything," Shiro said. He rubbed his temples. "I'm going over to Allura's tea shop on Saturday, and I'll talk to her about it then."

"So. Allura, huh."

"If you start in on me like Ryou, I'll toss you right out of this apartment," Shiro warned.

Keith rolled his eyes. "I only said her name."

"It was the tone."

"It's just sort of…I don't know." Keith shrugged and stood up, heading into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and leaned into it, riffling through the very few groceries that Shiro kept in there. Cooking was not Shiro's forte, which meant he ate out a lot and his fridge suffered for it. Still, there were some vegetables and fruit in there, plus beer. "Allura's the only woman I've ever heard you go on and on about. And now you have a kid with her." Keith grabbed a tangerine and tossed it at Shiro's head, forcing him to snatch it out of the air. He picked up a bunch of green grapes for himself and wandered back over to the couch. "It's unexpected."

Shiro laughed. "No kidding." He played with the tangerine, rolling it around in his left hand. He had never forgotten Allura, and he thought about her practically every day.

It had always been a daydream in the back of his mind that they would meet again and start things up, but that had always seemed like a fairy tale. Surely, he had thought, she would be married by now. She was so enchanting and kind and passionate, how could people _not_ fall in love with her?

And he had a daughter with her. Oh boy.

A grape bounced off his forehead, and Shiro shot Keith a half-hearted glare.

"Are you okay?" Keith asked.

Shiro squeezed the tangerine and started carefully peeling it. "Pretty much," he said, "I'm…it's just going to take some getting used to." How was he supposed to adjust to being a dad? How did you go from kid-less to plus-one-kid in the course of a day? He was starting to grow accustomed to it mentally, but it was still a big switch.

"Just so you know, Mom's going to completely freak out," Keith said. He popped a grape in his mouth and smirked. "I can't decide if it'll be a good freak out or if she'll ream you out and then get excited. Or both."

"Probably both at the same time." That phone call was going to take some serious preparation. Maybe he would make sure his dad was with his mom before calling.

"Maybe this means I can be the favorite child now," Keith teased, "Since Ryou's never getting the title, this is my chance."

Shiro flung a piece of tangerine peel at him. "You're already the favorite child. Now you get to be Uncle Keith, too."

Keith's mouth dropped open. "Wait, really?"

"Sort of comes with the whole your brother has a kid situation. I don't know if she'll call you that, though." He munched on a slice of tangerine, thinking about how Emi was going to call him Shiro. That was probably for the best, at least until they both got used to something else. Anyways, he was going to let her figure that one out.

* * *

Saturday evening rolled around, and everyone at Quintessence was doing a truly terrible job of looking busy while they waited for Shiro to show up. The tea shop was going to be closing in a few minutes, so the tables were empty and ready for the next day. Lance had already wiped all the tables down and swept, and now he was making a "mosaic" out of broken tea cup bits. Most of which he had busted.

Hunk, the shop's baker, was leaning against the counter, putting the finishing touches on a tray of cupcakes. Perched across from him was Shay, her forehead lightly dusted with matcha as she nibbled on a cupcake Hunk had given her.

Emi was supposed to be arranging flowers in vases with Allura, but she kept jumping up and running over to the window to press her nose against the glass. The smudge mark from her nose would have been a permanent addition to the window if it wasn't for Coran and his ceaseless cleaning.

Allura wished that Emi would stay in her seat. Every time she leapt up and raced to the window, Allura jolted in anticipation. This would be the first time Shiro came to her shop, and it meant sharing yet another part of her. It wasn't like she was nervous about him visiting or anything. It was simply a strange situation, so if she was slightly on edge, well, no one could blame her.

"Cherry blossom, you're wearing a path in the floor," Coran scolded gently, reaching out to tap Emi's leg with his broom as she darted past. She twirled, one leg coming up to spin past the broom.

"I'll walk different then," she said and jumped to the side. She took a loopy route to the window this time, avoiding Coran, but she still plunked her nose right against the glass.

"Hey, Allura, that flower didn't do anything to you," Lance said.

Allura lifted her head and realized she had been tearing one of the chrysanthemums into little pieces, slowly pulling off its petals. Making a face, she swept the petals off into her hand and hurried over to the trash can.

"Want one?" Hunk asked, holding out a cupcake to her. As if to match Shay's dash of matcha, he had a puff of flour across his left cheek.

"No, thank you," she said, brushing her hands off on her apron. Her apron. She had forgotten she had it on. Swiftly, she started tugging at the string, trying to pull it off, but it seemed that she had tied it a lot tighter than usual. The knot was stuck.

"He's here! He'sherehe'sherehe'shere!" Emi leapt back from the window and ran over to Allura, racing around her. "He's here!" Dashing around, she circled Coran and almost made a third full loop by heading for Lance, but he reached down and snagged her, lifting her off the ground.

"Whoa, slow down, Sonic," Lance said before putting her back on her feet. Emi giggled and leaned back on her heels, holding onto his hand so she didn't fall over. Lance spun her and she darted back over to Allura, who was still struggling with her apron ties.

"I've got the remedy for this," Coran said confidently before turning to the counter, "Hunk, scissors."

"Are you sure?" Hunk said, hesitating as Shay shook her head at him.

"A knife would work too. Or a sharp fork!"

"Wait, this is my favorite apron!"

"He's at the door!" Emi sang.

"Get the scissors," Lance said, holding onto Emi's arm so she wouldn't go for the door.

Allura's heart skipped a beat, which wasn't fair at all, and she told herself to calm down. Honestly, so much fuss over someone coming by for a chat.

A non-romantic chat.

"Would everyone please calm down?" Shay said. She slid off the bar stool and stepped over to Allura, her fingers attacking the knot. "Emi, can you please go let Shiro in? Lance, go with her and flip our sign to closed. Coran, put up the cleaning supplies, if you don't mind. And babe?" she said, looking at Hunk, "Big smile."

"Thank you," Allura said softly. Normally she was the one who took charge and gave out orders.

The apron strings loosened, and Allura quickly pulled it off, folding it up. Shay put her hand on Allura's shoulder. "It's going to be just fine. All right?"

"Right." She looked out the window to see Emi spinning around in front of Shiro, talking with her hands and stalling for time like the best daughter in the world. Which she was. The tiny girl peeked over her shoulder and then Shiro looked at her too, their eyes meeting. Allura smiled and motioned for them to come inside.

She hoped he still liked green tea.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own VLD.

A/N: Thanks for all the lovely comments, everyone! I'm so glad people like this fic.

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

"I'm sorry about that," Allura told Shiro as she walked back to the table after she finally ushered Coran out the door. She had thought that she was going to have to pry Coran's fingers off the doorframe, he had seemed so determined to stay behind.

"It's all right," Shiro said with a smile that said he was slightly overwhelmed but surviving.

"I know you weren't expecting the Spanish Inquisition," Allura said, embarrassed, "Can I offer you some tea for your suffering?"

"It honestly wasn't that bad," he said, "I've gone through worse. But I'd love some tea."

"What's an inquisesson?" Emi asked, stumbling over the word. She huffed, knowing she got it wrong, and her streak of pink hair fluffed out as her breath hit it. "And inpesition. The inqui-thingy!"

"Close, very close," Shiro said.

"Inquisition," Allura said, ruffling Emi's hair as she passed by, heading toward the bar. "Basically I meant that Coran asked Shiro a lot of questions."

Emi nodded. "Oh, yeah, that was a whole bunch."

While Hunk and Shay had introduced themselves in a pleasant, normal manner, Coran had made the impromptu decision to pretend he was in the CIA and interrogate Shiro. Hunk and Shay had eventually left, taking Lance along with them as they all headed out to a movie, but Coran had stayed behind. Allura should have expected that kind of thing for him since he tended to be overprotective. An old family friend of her dad's, he had stepped in as a surrogate father when Alfor had passed away and he was essentially Emi's maternal grandfather. But still, Allura was almost thirty, she didn't need a bodyguard. Especially from Shiro.

Who, actually, had taken it all in stride. He had answered Coran's thousands of questions while also paying attention to Emi, who wanted to show him all the work she had done in school that week. Once Shiro had come through the door, Coran had started the interrogation and Emi had raced to the back to get her schoolwork, so Shiro hadn't had a second to breathe since he stepped inside.

Finally Allura had herded Coran to the door and practically shoved him out as nicely as possible.

Allura started heating up water. "Emi, do you want some tea, too?"

"Yep, green, please," she said. She was sitting next to Shiro, all of her little projects and artwork spread out on the table, ready for his approval. She stole a look at him out of the corner of her bright blue eyes. "Do you like green tea?"

Shiro nodded. "It's my favorite, but I like black tea, too."

"Ew," Emi said, wrinkling her nose, "Black tea is gross."

"You're not even allowed to have black tea," Allura said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but I taste it sometimes when Uncle Lance has it, and it's nasty."

"Maybe it'll grow on you," Shiro said.

Emi affected a serious look and raised her hands, wriggling her fingers in the air. "Nope, it won't, I can't grow tea leaves." She grinned at her own silly joke, and Shiro smiled back.

Allura stopped, her hand resting on a pile of fresh mint. Now that they were right beside each other, it was easy to see where Emi got that smile of hers from. It was all Shiro. Allura took a pinch of mint and sprinkled it into her tea before setting all three cups on a tray and heading back over to the table.

"Here you go," Allura said, putting one of the cups in front of Shiro before passing the next to Emi. "Careful, it's hot."

"I know," Emi said, blowing across the surface of her tea.

Allura sat down next to Emi, which put her across from Shiro. It was quiet for a moment as the three of them sipped at the green tea, enjoying a break from constant talking. Instead of being awkward, it struck Allura as a peaceful moment. She caught Shiro's eyes as they both put their tea down, and she smiled. He didn't seem out of place here in her shop, even when Coran was asking him a million questions.

"So I've got two more uncles?" Emi asked. Both of her hands were around her tea cup, and she took another sip. "You told Coran you've got brothers."

Shiro nodded. "Ryou and Keith. Ryou is my twin, and Keith's our younger brother." He glanced over at Allura, a small bit of question of his own in his eyes, and she shifted a little in her chair. She hadn't told Emi very much about Shiro at all besides that he was her father. All of the little details about his family, his job, his personality…she hadn't wanted to get into them. She didn't even know that much herself, honestly, which was maybe why she didn't want to tell Emi very much. What if she couldn't remember something correctly?

"Can I see them? Do you have pictures?"

"Sure," Shiro said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He set it nearer to Emi and headed to the pictures. There was a picture of the two siblings from his coffee shop, then another almost identical picture, and another… Shiro groaned. "Hold on, they must've gotten my phone." He kept scrolling, going through dozens of ridiculous pictures of the Holts, his expression becoming increasingly mixed between exasperation and dismay. "How many did they take."

Emi put her hands over her mouth to smother the giggles, and when she looked over at Allura, eyes dancing, Allura couldn't help but grin as well. Shiro glanced up at them and suddenly that bit of tension that had still been lingering eased as all three of them started laughing. It was all still sort of awkward, but laughing together made it better.

Shiro finally found a picture he was looking for, and he turned the phone toward Emi again. "That's Keith," he said. The guy in the picture didn't look a lot like Shiro. He also had a look on his face that said he didn't appreciate having his picture taken as he worked on what looked like a streetbike frame. Shiro slid through a few more pictures before stopping. "And this is Ryou."

"He looks just like you, 'cept the stripe," Emi said, peering down at the picture. It was of Shiro and his twin together, Ryou's arm draped over Shiro's shoulders. "I've got one too."

"I noticed," Shiro said, looking at the bright pink streak in her hair and its white roots. "Mine turned white a few years ago."

"The doctor said I got mine 'cause I was born so little," Emi said. She tugged at the pink lock on hair, thinner than his white one. "Mom lets me dye it because I got called skunk head."

Allura saw something flash through Shiro's eyes, maybe anger? Protectiveness? He shook his head. "I get called that too sometimes."

"I guess people aren't very creative," Allura said, reaching over to stroke Emi's hair back behind her ear. She liked the white streak in Emi's hair, but when she had asked to dye it, Allura couldn't say no.

"Do you like our tea shop?" Emi asked, skipping from topic to topic with the blunt easiness that only children possess. "It's pretty, right?"

Shiro nodded. "Definitely." He met Allura's eyes. "It looks great in here. I like all the antiques."

"We spend a lot of our free time at street fairs and antique shops," Allura said before sipping at her own tea. "That's how I torture Emi."

"It's really boring sometimes," Emi said with a put-upon sigh, "But sometimes Uncle Lance breaks stuff and then it's funny."

"And quite expensive," Allura said, making a face. Lance never meant to break anything, but occasionally it seemed like costly items cracked whenever his eyes landed on them.

"Someone's having an engagement party here on Saturday," Emi said. Her nose crinkled. "I don't get to come when there's a party."

"You'll have fun at Coran's," Allura said.

"If you wanted, I could take Emi for the day," Shiro said tentatively, "I wouldn't mind, and I'm not scheduled to work this Saturday. She could stay with me and meet Keith."

Emi was up out of her seat and holding onto Allura's arm in an instant. "Please, Mom? Please!"

"I don't know…"

"You could come over for dinner after the party," Shiro said, his dark grey eyes hopeful, "I'll even cook."

Allura lifted an eyebrow. "I didn't think you cooked…" She distinctively remembered Shiro saying once upon a time that he was a terrible cook. Maybe things had changed.

"Emi and I can whip something up together," Shiro said, "It could be fun."

"Pleeeease," Emi said, clasping her hands together.

Oh no, with both of them giving her puppy dog eyes, it was impossible to say no. "I suppose…"

"Yay!" Emi said, twirling, "I can't wait, it's going to be so much fun!"

While Emi danced around the room, Allura looked over at Shiro. There were so many things they needed to discuss, so many things he didn't know about when it came to their kid. So many things she didn't know about him… "We should probably talk sometime, too, just the two of us," she said quietly, "So we can figure some things out?"

"I think that's a good idea," Shiro said, "Sometime before Saturday?"

"Let's plan on that."


End file.
